Obama brings welcomed change
By
-
To the editor:
Like Most Americans, I favored doing whatever it took to get bin Laden, including invading Afghanistan. Looking back, I wonder if it would have been necessary to invade if Barack Obama was president instead of a megalomaniac.
I'm pretty sure that Obama would have pursued the offer by the Taliban to discuss turning over Osama bin Laden if the United States ended bombing in Afghanistan.
President George Bush rejected as "non-negotiable" an offer by the Taliban to discuss turning over Osama bin Laden if the United States ended the bombing in Afghanistan.
Returning to the White House after a weekend at Camp David, the president said the bombing would not stop, unless the ruling Taliban "turn [bin Laden] over, turn his cohorts over, turn any hostages they hold over." He added, "There's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."
In Jalalabad, deputy prime minister Haji Abdul Kabir - the third most powerful figure in the ruling Taliban regime - told reporters that the Taliban would require evidence that Bin Laden was behind the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, but added: "we would be ready to hand him over to a third country."
If Obama had been president, would we have invaded Afghanistan? Would intelligence have been tweaked and created to justify invading Iraq? Would the trillion dollars plus cost of these two wars so far and the estimated three trillion total cost of these two wars be passed on to future generations? Would over 5,000 American soldiers and contractors have died in Afghanistan and Iraq? Would my son and other sons and daughters be deployed in these wars for the third, fourth or fifth times? Perhaps most important of all, had Obama been president, would specific intelligence warning of an attack involving hijacking planes have been ignored or would it have been taken seriously thus preventing the 9/11 attacks and all the subsequent havoc?
President Obama's low-keyed announcement of the death of bin Laden was quite a contrast to President Bush's premature declaration of victory in Iraq. When President Bush declared victory, wearing warrior garb in front of a giant "mission accomplished" banner and assembled sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln there had been 139 Americans military killed and 542 wounded in Iraq. The death toll has now exceeded 4,450 and over 33,000 have been wounded and the end is still not in sight.
President Obama appeared alone, walked to a simple podium without the strut often used by his predecessor and made his announcement of an actual mission accomplished without a giant banner, an aircraft carrier as a stage, a warrior costume or a cheering crowd.
There is a bumper sticker popular with Obamaphobes that's last line is, "You Can Keep The Change." I for one will gladly do so.
Sincerely,
Charles Leach
Lynchburg[[In-content Ad]]
Like Most Americans, I favored doing whatever it took to get bin Laden, including invading Afghanistan. Looking back, I wonder if it would have been necessary to invade if Barack Obama was president instead of a megalomaniac.
I'm pretty sure that Obama would have pursued the offer by the Taliban to discuss turning over Osama bin Laden if the United States ended bombing in Afghanistan.
President George Bush rejected as "non-negotiable" an offer by the Taliban to discuss turning over Osama bin Laden if the United States ended the bombing in Afghanistan.
Returning to the White House after a weekend at Camp David, the president said the bombing would not stop, unless the ruling Taliban "turn [bin Laden] over, turn his cohorts over, turn any hostages they hold over." He added, "There's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."
In Jalalabad, deputy prime minister Haji Abdul Kabir - the third most powerful figure in the ruling Taliban regime - told reporters that the Taliban would require evidence that Bin Laden was behind the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, but added: "we would be ready to hand him over to a third country."
If Obama had been president, would we have invaded Afghanistan? Would intelligence have been tweaked and created to justify invading Iraq? Would the trillion dollars plus cost of these two wars so far and the estimated three trillion total cost of these two wars be passed on to future generations? Would over 5,000 American soldiers and contractors have died in Afghanistan and Iraq? Would my son and other sons and daughters be deployed in these wars for the third, fourth or fifth times? Perhaps most important of all, had Obama been president, would specific intelligence warning of an attack involving hijacking planes have been ignored or would it have been taken seriously thus preventing the 9/11 attacks and all the subsequent havoc?
President Obama's low-keyed announcement of the death of bin Laden was quite a contrast to President Bush's premature declaration of victory in Iraq. When President Bush declared victory, wearing warrior garb in front of a giant "mission accomplished" banner and assembled sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln there had been 139 Americans military killed and 542 wounded in Iraq. The death toll has now exceeded 4,450 and over 33,000 have been wounded and the end is still not in sight.
President Obama appeared alone, walked to a simple podium without the strut often used by his predecessor and made his announcement of an actual mission accomplished without a giant banner, an aircraft carrier as a stage, a warrior costume or a cheering crowd.
There is a bumper sticker popular with Obamaphobes that's last line is, "You Can Keep The Change." I for one will gladly do so.
Sincerely,
Charles Leach
Lynchburg[[In-content Ad]]